(Dr.) Bottlenecks: Or, How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Just Buy the

[Rustafur]

So, go ahead and buy your 8800GTX... but don't get a Conroe/MoBo/DDR2 too. Just save the $500 from the proposed upgrade and by a huge monitor and CRANK the EYE CANDY!

 

And this.... is how I learned to stop worrying and just buy the video card.

 

I agree (and I think everyone else here agrees also),anything rendered passed the refresh rate of your monitor is a moot point. The first priority of a gamer's rig should always be "what is the best GPU/Monitor setup I can afford" and then work the rest of your system around the requirements of your GPU's. But, don't forget this is the study of only one game, and a game that is very light on the physics and a.i. processing power. Some games in the present and future of computer gaming will definitely start requiring some horsepower in your CPU, even requiring mulit-core CPU's. (Alan Wake comes to mind) Nothing more than a E6400 can handle for a while, I'm sure. But try not to totally throw your CPU down the drain. But your GPU and monitor setup should absolutely be first and foremost in every gaming rig you assemble!

[Thraxz]

I've seen the same trend in the HL2 source engines as well as in BF2142. I've already conceded that there are exceptions to my rule so really, mentioning specific cases where it's 'kind of' wrong doesn't mean much.

 

You are however correct. Oblivion is a game ripe for pointing at and say "nuh-uh" to this theory.

[green-man]

good thread thrax, sound theory dude.

[sailindawg]

Thraxz, I really liked and appreciated the quantitative effort that you put forth here. I'm looking at your work from a gamer/multimedia/enthusiast/pc=recreation point of view. You put on paper what I have understood intuitively through pc gaming and just plain old tweaking for pc games. I agree with your point of view, understanding that this is a general rule of thumb. Of course there will be exceptions, but since the introduction of dual core cpu's, I really believe in your point of view. When I put together my current rig, some semblance of your theory was already percolating in my head. I had hoped to put together a system that could last a few years and only need a vid card upgrade to stay relevant. Given that all games that I play and will play for the foreseeable future are Dx9, the only value a Dx10 has for me, is it's Dx9 performance. And that's all we will have for quite some time. Next year this time, there could be an explosion of Dx10 games that shatter your theory. However, for now, your rule of thumb makes considerable sense when considering about a full pc upgrade. Ofcourse, being a first adopter and staying on the razor's edge of tech is fun, but it gets exspensive after a bit.

 

Good work!

[Rustafur]

I've seen the same trend in the HL2 source engines as well as in BF2142. I've already conceded that there are exceptions to my rule so really, mentioning specific cases where it's 'kind of' wrong doesn't mean much.

 

You are however correct. Oblivion is a game ripe for pointing at and say "nuh-uh" to this theory.

 

Oh, I'm not trying to point fingers and be a thread crapper. Sorry if that came across in my post. I very much agree with the point you are conveying. I'm just saying that if you're going balls-out on your video card (which for a gaming rig, you should!) don't go throwing a $40 Cellery processor in your 8800 SLi rig and expect your machine to not be a little CPU bound. I understand this is a bit of an extreme situation, but I felt it was worth mentioning as someone may read this thread and decide to take that road. But indeed, there's no real reason you should ever need to spend more than $200 on a CPU for a gaming PC. Thanks for the time and effort Thraxz, there's a lot more time and effort put into a post like this than a lot of people realize.

[grafton]

i have to agree with you i notice the most preformace from upgrading the gpu not the cpu at least in games in the other world where people use there pc's a cheap cpu oc'd will do wonders

[Thraxz]

If you gave me the choice between an 8800GTX with an Opty 165/2 gigs of DDR500 ram and an X1950XTX with an E6700/2 gigs DDR1200.... I'd take the GTX combo and buy a huge butt monitor.

 

Man, I posted this originally on another forum and I got a lot of positive rep and COMPLETELY AND TOTALLY REAMED by a select few who I think are really really upset that they figured out their CPU purchase was worthless.

[Bad_Religion]

whell i agree with all of it except the human eye thing martal artist trow puntchs at 50mph thats 73.5feet per second now i dont wana go 2 far into the math on this caz there is no way of knowing how fast the human eye is yet but if ur like me and uv been at the other end of that it comes extremaly slow and it dosent blur or anything but i will also add every human eye is diferent evan ur left and right one and if u got ur adrenilin going it theroedicaly will work evan faster it has to thats how we made it this far soo its up to u 2 decide how fast ur eyes are no one can really tell u unless u can find some data on that iv been looking around

 

excelent post thow the monitor thing i never knew iv been saveing up forever for a really nice monitor lcd i hate for gameing also i think ima need a bigger desk when i get it lol

[Bad_Religion]

http://amo.net/NT/02-21-01FPS.html

http://amo.net/nt/05-24-01FPS.html

 

soo this ends the human eye max fps forever i hope u canot put a limit on urself thats not a good idea if i think im stupid than i am if i think i cant run fast than i cant and so on ex

[HITandRUN]

http://amo.net/NT/02-21-01FPS.html

http://amo.net/nt/05-24-01FPS.html

 

soo this ends the human eye max fps forever i hope u canot put a limit on urself thats not a good idea if i think im stupid than i am if i think i cant run fast than i cant and so on ex

 

Thanks! Finally a reason to buy all the expensive GPU's!

[Bad_Religion]

ur monitor is everything still thow ... and yes i love high fps+might mhz and yay i love justfying buying a 6k gpu atleast u got braging rights from it lolz if u got teh best ill be impressed atleastand ask u if i can have ur job lolz

[KimTjik]

Good work Thraxz! It also prove what some seem to refuse to understand: 3DMark is just as much used as a marketing trick, distracting some from setting the right priorities.